Just an FYI that we have our primary today for national, statewide, & state rep/senate offices. Locally, four WMass state districts will have new representatives going to Boston - 1st Hampshire, 2nd Hampshire, 3rd Hampshire, & mine,1st Franklin. It's been pretty exciting having contested elections all over the place & having, for the first time in my life, anywhere I've lived, candidates knocking on our door!

The two races of national interest to watch are MA-7th with Ayanna Pressley challenging Mike Capuano & my district, MA-1st, where Tahira Amatul-Wadu is challenging Richard Neal. It will be interesting to see how "fresh start/fresh faces" vs "these guys will have status & power" attitudes affect the races. Just the fact that Richie Neal finally has to campaign makes me happy - the guy does no out-reach to constituents (no emails, no newsletters, no nothing), holds no town halls, & has done (apparently) nothing but hold office. My dad, who said nothing bad about anyone (outside of Nixon, Joe McCarthy, & that ilk) had him in college & referred to him as "not one of my successes".

Turnout is good in my town, too - I was number 707 (out of something like 12-1300 voters) at 5:45 with people continuing to stream in. Nothing like having actual contested elections with visible local candidates to ramp up enthusiasm!

Fingers crossed for Ms Tek's candidate! A friend of ours worked on a campaign in 1st Franklin (his first) & his enthusiasm was awesome to see. I'm loving seeing all the grassroots activity!!

Turnout is good in my town, too - I was number 707 (out of something like 12-1300 voters) at 5:45 with people continuing to stream in. Nothing like having actual contested elections with visible local candidates to ramp up enthusiasm!

Fingers crossed for Ms Tek's candidate! A friend of ours worked on a campaign in 1st Franklin (his first) & his enthusiasm was awesome to see. I'm loving seeing all the grassroots activity!!

Sure hope turnout was good, The GOTV effort sure seemed exhaustive. We’ve been spammed with robocalls to our MA cellphones and former cable phone, texts, emails, mailed cards, etc. MAKE IT STOP. We don’t live there anymore.

"[Moderate] doesn't mean you don't have views. It just means your views aren't predictable ideologically one way or the other, and you're trying to follow the facts where they lead and reach your own conclusions."
-- Sen. King (R-ME)

Rep. Michael Capuano has conceded to his Democratic challenger Ayanna Pressley in the Massachusetts primary, becoming the latest veteran lawmaker to go down against a progressive candidate in a stunning political upset.

Capuano, a 20-year veteran in Congress, made the concession around 9:20 p.m., according to multiple reports. His opponent, 44-year-old Pressley, was the first woman of color ever elected to the Boston City Council. It was Capuano’s first primary challenge during his nearly two decades in office.

The national wave of insurgent energy that is reshaping Democratic politics crashed into Massachusetts on Tuesday as Ayanna Pressley, the first African-American woman elected to the Boston City Council, made history again, defeating Representative Michael Capuano, a 10-term incumbent heavily backed by the political establishment.

With no Republican in the race, Pressley, 44, is poised to become the first woman of color from Massachusetts to serve in the United States House, in a storied district that, although reconfigured, was once represented by John F. Kennedy and the legendary speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr.

Her victory was the most high-profile upset on a night of sweeping change in Boston politics. Two members of the Massachusetts House leadership were defeated by political newcomers: Byron Rushing, a 28-year state representative, lost to Jon Santiago; and Jeffrey Sanchez, the House budget chief, lost to Nika Elugardo. In the Suffolk District Attorney’s race, Rachael Rollins is poised to become the first woman of color to serve as Boston’s top prosecutor, topping a field that included a sitting prosecutor backed by the law enforcement establishment.

Pressley’s victory over Capuano, a 66-year-old down-the-line liberal first elected to Congress in 1998, represents a generational, gender, and racial shift in Boston politics, and an upending of the wait-your-turn ethos that has pervaded the Democratic Party locally and statewide.

Edit: 58.3% to 41.7% , with 69% reporting

"[Moderate] doesn't mean you don't have views. It just means your views aren't predictable ideologically one way or the other, and you're trying to follow the facts where they lead and reach your own conclusions."
-- Sen. King (R-ME)

Before coming to the Survival Center in 2013, Domb led two statewide programs for staff of drug and alcohol treatment programs, jails and homeless shelters around the issues of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis and overdose prevention, and a training program on caring for LGBTQ youth. She was also a co-founder of the Berkshire AIDS Coalition.

Domb also worked for Congressman Ted Weiss in Manhattan, managing his lower Manhattan district office, where she advocated for a federal response to the HIV epidemic at its beginning and preventing the federal government from stationing nuclear weapons in New York Harbor.

In 2010, she founded Make It Better Amherst, a social network of allies that started out of concern about the suicide epidemic in LGBTQ teens.

That's awesome, Tek!!! And yes we do have some great candidates. Now if only we could find someone who could beat Richie Neal next time. He's not bad, just bland & fairly ineffective & I know we can do better.

ETA - I am so incredibly glad that the old-school "wait your turn" ethos is being kicked to the curb. It has driven me nuts for years & it's about time we took back our party!